“That I can’t say,” replied Mr. Pauling. “They
didn’t report whether they made any discoveries or not.”
“But if it is the submarine, where are the men?” reiterated Tom.
“Search me,” replied Rawlins. “A lot of things may have happened to them. Something may have gone wrong so they were obliged to come up and knowing they would be captured they took the sub’s boats. Or again, they may have decided to desert the sub and scatter—probably they knew the chaps we got, and suspected they’d confess. It would have been an easy matter to run in close to shore, take to the boats and land and then sink the boats in shallow water so as to leave no trace. Or some ship might have picked them up. By the way, I’ve been puzzling over something. How do you suppose that sub got in and out of the West Indies without being seen and reported. If she carried contraband in and loot out she must have gone to some port.”
“Why, didn’t I explain that?” asked Mr. Pauling. “Must have slipped my mind when relating the story yesterday. The prisoner told us how they managed. The submarine never entered any
port—unless you consider the hiding place of the chief of the gang a port—but picked up her cargoes in mid-ocean.”
“Oh, I see, transferred them from another ship, eh?” said Rawlins. “Stupid of me not to think of it.”
“Not quite right yet, Rawlins,” chuckled Mr. Pauling. “It was this way. A vessel would sail from a West Indian port with a cargo and would drop it overboard at a designated spot. Then the submarine would pick it up. If they had transferred on the surface they might have been seen and rough weather would have interfered. Moreover, if those on the schooners saw the submarine or knew of her they might have talked. They imagined the things were to be grappled or brought up by divers. The head of this bunch takes no chances.”
“Ah, now I see a light dawning!” exclaimed Rawlins. “I think that solves several puzzles. You remember those messages you boys heard? Well, they always, or nearly always, included numbers—‘thirty-eight fifty, seventy-seven’ was one, I believe—and ‘good bottom’ and similar things. I
often wondered about those, but I’ll bet those were the spots where the sub was to find cargoes dumped. Hasn’t that Russian Johnny come across with anything more about the high Muck-a-Muck of the bunch and where he hangs out?”